The ceremony that would change his life … ‘I, Charles, Prince of Wales, do become your liegeman of life and limb, and of earthly worship …’ ibid.
This is Britain in the summer of 1981. Thatcher, Duran Duran, rioting, and the Royal Wedding of the century. A 20 year old bride and her prince charming captivated the nation. Three-quarters of a billion watched around the world. But behind the scenes all was not well. Publicly, there was a united front. Privately, there was doubt, fear and heartbreak. This is the revealing and shocking story of the seven days that led up to Charles’ and Diana’s wedding. Charles & Diana: The Truth Behind Their Wedding aka Charles & Di’s Wedding: The Revelations, Channel 5 2020
There were signs all was not well. In four months, Diana’s waist had shrunk by over five inches … ‘She looked beautiful but she had melted away.’ ibid.
‘… mismatched … doomed, utterly doomed …’ ibid. Nicholas Soames
The wedding was a welcome respite for Mrs Thatcher’s struggling government. ibid.
At the age of 32 the pressure was on, and Charles knew it. He had already asked at least two women to marry him. ibid.
Had Diana fallen in love with the romantic idea of a prince rather than Charles himself? ibid.
But Diana was overwhelmed and behind closed doors broke down again. Powerless to stop the juggernaut, there was nothing Diana could do. The public saw none of it. ibid.
With less than forty-eight hours to go, Charles danced once with Diana, then spent the rest of the time on the dance floor with Camilla. ibid.
The Queen has a unique relationship with her eldest child: mother and son, queen and heir. Bonds between mother and son are crucial. But this one is critical to the future and stability of the monarchy. It’s a complex relationship. The Queen & Charles: Mother & Son, Channel 5 2020
In recent years, the Prince has opened up about this mother’s absence in his childhood. ibid.
His school years were filled with distress. ibid.
They are the most famous family in the world. For generations they’ve symbolised tradition, integrity, power and privilege. How they act in public and private matters. But they are also just like us. So behind the perfect image there often lies a different story. And royal rows mean upset at the very heart of the British establishment. The Windsors: Royal Rifts & Feuds, expert, Channel 5 2000
Royal relationships playing out like the ultimate soap opera whether it’s a very public breakdown, speculation of a feud with a future queen, or constitutional crisis – it can get very bitter. ibid.
Diana’s jealousy and paranoia about Camilla had continued in the first few years of her marriage with Charles. ibid.
Camillagate: Read The Royal Tape In FULL. ibid. The People headline
Panorama: An Interview with HRH The Princess of Wales: perhaps the most brutal and explosive interview a member of the Royal Family has ever given. ibid.
‘Diana seemed to have suspicions about the pair right from the start ... ‘Just before the wedding Diana intercepted a package that arrived at Charles’ office and she insisted on opening it, and it was a gold bracelet with the initial F & G for Fred & Gladys, their nicknames for each other.’ The Royal Family at War, Channel 5 2020
‘He said at least I’ve got my heir and spare.’ ibid. Paul Burrell the Butler
‘Out came this cascade of emotion; she was speaking like a prisoner in a cell.’ ibid. Andrew Morton re Diana tapes & basis of Diana: Her True Story
‘It [press] feasted on the misery of this family.’ ibid. expert
The Royal War went public … ‘She wanted to hurt him. She wanted to punish him.’ ibid.
The Royal Family and the tabloid press have a long and complicated relationship. Sometimes they’re friends, sometimes they’re not. This is the inside story of that fascinating relationship. Diana vs The Tabloids, Channel 5 2020
Over a light lunch in Diana’s private quarters she proposed a deal to the assembled press editors: she would feed them stories if in return if they took a more respectful approach to her privacy. ibid.
Charles’s new girlfriend was a tantalising prospect for the tabloids. ibid.
It was very clear that Diana sold, Charles didn’t. ibid.
To the ever watchful tabloid press, the cracks they had always suspected in the royal marriage were beginning to show. Charles was an old-fashioned country gent while Diana was a young cosmopolitan city girl. And it wasn’t long before press rumours were circulating about extra-marital affairs. ibid.
Camilla Tapes: Charles Rocked By Shock Camilla Tape. ibid. People newspaper
Dubbed Tampongate. ibid.
‘Effectively suggesting he would have liked to have been Camilla’s Tampax is probably the biggest low any member of the Royal Family has ever sunk to. ibid.
Turning against a money machine like the princess can damage sales. ibid.
Over time these acts of defiance became more public. ibid.
Just Di-Light-Ful … Daring Di: She’s All Things Bold & Beautiful … Thee Mouse That Roared. ibid. Sun newspaper
Lady Diana Spencer was just 19 when she became engaged to the 32 year old Prince of Wales. It was her first serious relationship. After more than a decade in a suffocating marriage the Princess was desperate to speak out. And in 1995 the Princess began a serious of clandestine meetings with BBC journalist Martin Bashir. His attempts to secure an interview with Diana are now the subject of fresh allegations by her brother Earl Spencer. Here, the man accused of helping Bashir speaks on camera. The Diana Interview: Revenge of a Princess s1e1, ITV 2020
Charles had been in a relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles for several years. But she had had a series of boyfriends and was deemed an unsuitable match for the heir of the throne. ibid.
Prince Charles was simply unable to give Diana the emotional security she so badly desired. ibid.
Back then, Diana probably believed she could win Charles’ love and make him forget Camilla. Charles himself was also trapped by circumstance. ibid.
‘I couldn’t believe that a man with a newborn baby was gonna leg it and play some daft game of Polo. Doing something like that to a wife with a newborn baby [Harry] was atrocious. If he thought he could treat his wife like that, he was in deep trouble.’ ibid. Ken Lennox, press photographer
On 20th June 1994 Charles attempted to hit back at Diana’s growing popularity. As well as rehabilitating his reputation – there was Camillagate – by giving an exclusive interview for Jonathan Dimbleby on ITV. ibid.
Diana’s BBC Man and Fake Bank Statements: Documents were falsified before Royal Interview. ibid. Daily Mail headline
‘This was an interview that went to the absolute dark heart of English establishment and the monarchy.’ The Diana Interview: Revenge of a Princess s1e2, Andrew Morton
‘She [Camilla] won’t go quietly. That’s the problem. I’ll fight till the end. Because I believe I have a role to fulfil.’ ibid.
The interview had been done without the knowledge of [Marmaduke] Hussey or the [BBC] Board of Governors. ibid.
Eventually, Diana received £17 million but lost her HRH title as part of the settlement. ibid.
In the weeks before he secured his global scoop with Princess Diana, Martin Bashir asked his friend and colleague at Panorama, a BBC graphic designer, to do a job for him late one evening … ‘I am this guy that’s remembered for forging the document. And I want to clear my name … Martin asked me to make up a couple of bank statements about people being paid to do surveillance that he needed the following day. And he did say that they were just going to be used as copies.’ ibid. Matthias Wiessler, BBC graphic designer 1986-1995
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, potential future Queen and consort. On the surface a conventional royal partner always destined to be by Charles’s side. But her story is much more Hollywood than Highgrove. Who is the woman who Charles risked everything for? Why did her relationship with the future King mysteriously falter? How did she go from Britain’s most hated woman to a loved royal? Camilla: Making of a Mistress aka Camilla Before Charles, Channel 5 201
Camilla Parker Bowles was married herself but remained a close friend with Charles ... Prior to the wedding with Charles, had Diana known how close Charles & Camilla truly been? ibid.
Worse was to come: in January 1993 the People newspaper published the transcripts of Charles and Camilla first recorded in 1989. ibid.
Charles’s interview was just the curtain-raiser to the interview Diana gave Martin Bashir a year later. ibid.
1960s swinging London is in full flow and 18 year old Camilla Shand is said to dive head-first into the party scene. ibid.
By the late 1970s Camilla was said to be seeing Charles again. ibid.